Broken Lantern

Chapter Twenty-Nine

When we pull into our driveway, we notice Matt's Jeep and Joel's truck are already there. We go inside and they're all four there with Dally, in the livingroom, playing with her on the floor.

"Hey, where are my parents?" I ask them, coming through the door.

"They just left. They were tired, so we told them we've got this." Jess says, handing Dally her stuffed lamb.

"Why are you all here? Didn't you want to go to the parties?" Kevin asks, with levity in his voice over the word "parties".

"Yeah, man, what did you two think about the "parties"?" Joel asks, looking up at me and Kevin.

We drop down on the couch at the same time, look at each and laugh. "What parties? The one that could be called a party was just too much. We're parents now, we don't have time for that. The second party was a bunch of kids sitting around watching an old movie and drinking apparently." I tell them, rolling my eyes, remembering the incident with Mark.

"Yeah, that party turned out to be too much too", Kevin says lifting his fist to show his swollen, bloody knuckles.

"What in the world?" Matt asks, taking Kevin's hand to examine it. "Who did you kill, dude? And why?"

Kevin pulls his hand back, "Man, I didn't kill anybody." He says, acting offended at such an accusation. "Mark attacked Alley when she came out of the bathroom while we were at Roger's house. I had to pull him away from her."

Brittany's eyes are big around as saucers as she listens to the details of the fight.

"Good thing you were there with her. Mark is known for being a little aggressive." She says, her face turning red as she's looking down at the floor.

Matt wraps his arm around her and pulls her to him, but neither of them say anymore.

"So, the party that y'all didn't make it to ended early, when we were all run off by Officer Wiley for noise violation. He had to come out three times before he made us all leave. There wasn't any alcohol though, we were just being loud and rowdy." Matt tells us.

"Yeah, dude, I just don't think that the party life is for us. Even on grad night." Kevin says to them, looking back at me and then to our daughter.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do about the recruiter you talked to today?" Jess asks Kevin.

"I'm staying right here, with my family." He tells her, as if it was a given.

They all look at each other and back to us, "That's great, man. We're all happy for you." They tell us.

"Dally needs her family intact, she needs stability." Brittany adds, brushing a curl away from Dallas's face.

We spend the rest of the evening playing with Dallas, hanging out watching tv and talking. None of us ready to let the night end, none of us sad that we didn't get to have a wild night out. Just a group of friends, that have been through a lot, safe and secure, having fun laughing together in our little sanctuary.

A few days later, Matt calls Kevin and he gets up to take the call privately in our room, which is a bit strange considering they will usually talk about anything in front of me, including all of their guy talk that I would rather not hear.

I sit and finish my coffee, waiting for Dallas to wake up, wondering what could Matt be telling him that needed privacy?

Kevin comes out of our room a few minutes later, "Hey, babe, we're gonna go to dinner with everyone tonight, is that ok?"

It's a bit suspicious, but I agree and call mom to set up a babysitter. "Sorry, honey, me and Daddy already have plans tonight, Elaine and Bobby are going with us, so you'll have to check with Kevin's parents."

"Kevin, can you please check with your mom to see if she can keep the baby tonight?" I ask him. He nods and pulls out his phone to text her.

They agree to keep her, telling us they'll be here around 6pm.

It's Saturday, which is normally everyone's date night, so I know his parents are more than likely breaking a date to keep her. We don't get to have Saturday date nights normally, so I'm very thankful to them for doing it.

We have to go to Henry's for groceries today, so I make a mental note to pick up flowers for Kevin's mom and for his dad, I'll pick up his favorite candy bar.

When Dally's all dressed and ready, we drive to town, ready to fill the fridge and pantry with goodies for the week. Henry's is packed, even for a weekend. When we finally find a parking spot in the tiny lot, we make our way inside to find all four registers open and crowded with long lines.

"I didn't realize there were this many people in this small town", Kevin jokes, putting Dally's carseat in the front of the buggy and locking it in.

"I know, I wonder why everyone's here today", I ask, looking around at all the faces passing by us.

Then we see it. A big makeshift sign is leaned up against the top shelf in the middle of the store; 'Going out of business' is written in big red letters.

"What??" We both say in unison. "Why on earth would the store be going out of business? They're the only grocery around here besides Wal-Mart." Kevin says to me.

"I have no idea. But this is terrible. I really don't like going into Wal-Mart, I'd rather have Henry's any day", I tell him.

We fill our buggy with what we can find from our list and go to check out. Ms. Holly is there at the register, her eyes swollen and red, like she's been crying. Ms. Holly's worked at Henry's for 33 years, this closing has to be hard on her.

"How are you doing, Ms. Holly?" Kevin asks her.

"Oh, I'm alright, I suppose. I'm still breathing, so God has blessed me again today." She says, sniffling.

"What's going on? Why's the store closing?" He asks her, hoping she'll know more than we do.

"Oh, you know, it's those stupid ole' chain stores coming in, setting up shop all around this little town. They're pulling our business and cutting into profit. There's not enough money coming into this little old store anymore to justify keeping it open any longer, I guess."

We tell her how sorry we are, and check out, both of us feeling down, like we're losing something major, and I guess in a way, we are.

"This is horrible", I complain, not wanting to lose the grocery store we've gone to since we were kids. "I agree, but there's nothing we can do." Kevin tells me, saddened by the reality that the outside world is coming to our tiny little town.

We drive home in silence, worried about the sanctity of our little town.